Top 5 reasons to visit: Dublin, Ireland

My first list. I was waiting for an inspiration and finally got one on my trip this week to Ireland. Here's a few reasons why you should come visit :

•

U2

I mean, we just owe them. Give their people the tourism revenue so justly earned by the Joshua Tree, on its own. Not to mention any unforgettable fires.

•

Guinness

Good God it's like butter here. Every Guinness you've ever had in the US, or UK or wherever, is veritable piss compared to the fresh real thing in the taps here. No wonder Frank McCourt's father lived on it for 50 years. Screw the nitrogen pellets.

•

The People of Ireland

Think the friendliness of Canada meets the laid back-ness of the Caribbean meets the charm of the Brits. And they like rugby, horse racing, and whiskey. Feck yeah! Brilliant! Lovely!

•

Tin whistles, accordions & banjos

Live music is feckin' everywhere in Dublin. It's feckin' gorgeous. Mellow or raucous, it inspires and warms the heart. Note to Steve Earle: your 'Galway Girl' tune is ubiquitous in this country (and this town ironically). Someone should write a song called Dublin Girl. Looking at you Bono.

•

Trinity College etc.

History. Not history like the US Library of Congress (1800). History like the 1500s, or 1100s. Viking battle shit. St. Patrick 450AD Christianity shit. Trinity is like Hogwarts if Seamus Finnegan was the protagonist. It's Brilliant. And Lovely. Established in the 1500s. Home of Oscar Wilde. Nearby, James Joyce hailed from UCD. How does an island so small and so feckin' poor, produce such greats in the Arts (not for a measly decade Motown, for a feckin' half millennium)?! Brilliant. And Lovely.